HONEY INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 30, 5 February 1925, Page 10

HONEY INDUSTRY.

; CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING, j | intefestim; review. cT.y Tele.riph. -Own correspondent.! HAMILTON*, this clay. Interesting information on co-opcra-j tion. ancl the marketing of honey was given at the annual field clay of bee- ] keepers, held nt Ruakura. Mr. -I. Keiuoiil. managing director of] the Honey Producers' Association, said there were two possibilities in marketing lheir export surplus. One was to send il abroad and sell it to the highest bidder. The other Mas to spread the sales over twelve months. Honey was a seasonal crop, and if they followed the lirst method of marketing, they would be doing exactly what other classes of producers' were Irving to break away from. The Dairy and Meat Control Hoards were both Irving to avoid large quantities of their produce being thrown on lo the market at one time. Bespreading sales they would not congest the market at any time; they would get the best price offering al! the year round, and the identity of the honey would be preserved. In this respect it was noteworthy that Xew Zealand honey, appearing as it did under their own label I on the tables of England and the Continent, was valuable as nn advertisement for New Zealand as a whole. The association had in the past been compelled lo make (heir first advance as high ns possible, owing to the competition of outside buyers. This had not been a very sound policy for a co-opera-tive concern, but to retain the goodwill of their shareholders who always compared the lirst advance with competitive prices, this had to be done, and the position had arisen that their lirst advance of the Inst three years bad become the actual price of the honey. There was a limit, as to how high they coiild go in prices, and it was a matter of careful adjustment to fix their prices so that '.he highest return may be obtained and get the whole of tiie honey sold in the one year. Their efforts of the future must be confined to improving the quality of their product, extending their market and eliminating distributing expenses wherever possible. He wns quite satisfied they were on the right lines and they had outside testimony on this matter, in that the

Canadian honey producers were forming an organisation based on the New Zealand one. "Mr. T. S. Winter, pec-clary of the National I'ockoopcrs' .Wocia I ion. impressed upon the assembly the importance of developing the local market upon right lines. They had. he said, nl present a splendid overseas market, which had l"-en organised 10, l lie honey producers, and wire it noi f..r that organisation lac indu-try would lo far more backward than it was. Many beekeepers lin.l ilu- idea llinl they could do bolter individually than by sending The bulk of their honey through their a-MH-iaiic-.il. They .1..1 not talk this matter over in .-..iili.lein-o. i-ach apparently feeling thai li lid »ork alone. and, Hi- it were "put 1.1 mt" on liis follow beekeepers by packing in small containers for ihe 1... al market. What actually happcne.l uh- thai instead of merclv on.- or iw.. individuals acting in this 'manner, a »liol- lio-l of i hem. working, as they thought. secretly, slipped away quietly l„ the cit.v. to dispose of their honey, only to I'm.l thai downs of other-, bad been there before them, and thai the market was more or less lloodcd. "bile the merchants were not prepared lo purchase more than limited quant il ics. The beekeeper would then slip along to the retailer nnd would .-ell's-his honey to him at the same price as to the' wholesaler. I hereby cutting out the wholesaler's profit. The next man would come along with his honey, and. finding that the market was satisfied, would reduce his price. The result was that the wholesalers and retailers were getting antagonistic- towards the industry, as there were no two prices alike, and the stores were full of honey, of all grades and price.. This way of doing things niii-l cease if they wanted to survive as the leading beekeepers of the world.